The Modern Voting Rights Movement, Single Member Districts, and Black Office Holding

Bloody Sunday
BLOODY SUNDAY The Selma-to-Montgomery March for voting rights ended three weeks–and three events–that represented the political and emotional peak of the m…

Editor’s Note – The modern Voting Rights movement can be traced to the 1944 decision of the US Supreme Court in Smith v. Allright to outlaw the White Primary. Authors Bernard Grofman and Chandler Davidson point out that shortly thereafter, Southern white officials, anticipating a renewed movement for African American voting, began amending electoral laws to prevent Black office holding in the event that large numbers of Blacks entered the electorate.SOUTHERN STATES LEGISLATIVE REVIEW – SouthernRegionalCouncil
http://www.southerncouncil.org/pdf/legislative.pdf
… the SouthernRegionalCouncil … Southern States Legislative Review From the earliest votingrights … date won election to Congress or the state legislature …
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement — History & Timeline …
http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis63.htm
As reported by the SouthernRegionalCouncil, … And without Federal votingrights … For more information on the Jackson Civil Rights Movement: Book …
The use of schemes like at-large voting meant that even if African Americans got the right to vote and voted in large numbers, from school board to city council and county commission, all the way through state legislative and congressional elections, they would not be able to elect candidates of their choice because the white majority would always be able to outvote the black minority through racially polarized bloc voting. The 1982 amendments to the Section 2 of the Voting Right Act of 1965, followed by the US Supreme Court decision in the 1986 Thornburg v. Gingles case fundamentally changed the picture of Black office holding in the US. In the South alone, the number of Black elected officials went from 1179 in 1973 to 4924 in 1993. The ability of jurisdictions to draw single-member districts in which African American voters were a majority (almost always forced to do so through litigation or enforcement of the amended Voting Right Act), allowed African American voters for the first time since #reconstruction to elect candidates of their choice.
A Legacy – 1964 – The VotingRightsActof1965 – August 6, 1965
http://senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965.htm
On August 6, President Lyndon Johnson came to the Capitol to sign the VotingRightsActof1965. Following a ceremony in the Rotunda, the president, congressional leaders, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and others crowded into the President’s Room near the Senate Chamber for the actual signing.
Thurgood Marshall: A Biography
Glenn L. Starks, Thurgood Marshall, F. Erik Brooks, published 2012, 145 pages
A Defiant Life: Thurgood Marshall and the Persistence of Racism in America
Howard Ball, published 2011, 464 pages
The Pursuit of Justice: Supreme Court Decisions that Shaped America
Kermit L. Hall, John J. Patrick, published 2006, 253 pages
Thurgood Marshall: Race, Rights, and the Struggle for a More Perfect Union
Charles L. Zelden, published 2013, 240 pages
The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939
unknown, published 2013, 456 pages
Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
Juan Williams, published 2011, 504 pages
Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1936-1961
Mark V. Tushnet, published 1994, 399 pages
The Right to Vote: Rights and Liberties Under the Law
D. Grier Stephenson, published 2004, 453 pages

Voting Rights Act – Black History – HISTORY.com
http://www.history.com/topics
The Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-73) on August 6, 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th …
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 – Reflections of a Generation …
http://www.cbcfinc.org/thevillage/
Before many of us were born, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act (VRA) into law on August 6th, 1965. For those of us who came right after the enactment of the VRA, we had books, oral histories, films, …
Supreme Court strikes down part of Voting Rights Act – Politics
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — the map that determines which states must get federal permission before they change their voting laws. Civil rights activists called the …
Reflecting on the voting Rights Act of 1965 | Alcee Hastings …
https://www.verifiedvoting.org/
One year later, the landmark legislation was strengthened and expanded when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law on Aug. 6, 1965. The Voting Rights Act prohibited discrimination in voting and, together with …
Does Obama’s Re-election Doom the Voting Rights Act …
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/
Relying on this restrictive standard, challengers to the act argue, with some reason, that the list of covered jurisdictions no longer resembles the “America’s Most Wanted” of voting-rights violators that it did in 1965. In recent …
Tell Congress: Restore Crucial Civil Rights Law on Voting …
http://www.seiu.org/
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most important and successful civil rights laws ever enacted by the U.S. Congress, banned racism at polling places. A year ago, the Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the law, …
Georgia Voting Rights Discord Persists in Wake of Critical …
http://atlantadailyworld.com/
The year 2015 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and yet in Georgia, the suspicion of voter suppression lingers even as a judge rejects claims of unprocessed voter registrations for the upcoming …
Can 3 Lawmakers Revive the Voting Rights Act After the …
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum
Seven months ago the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, one of the great achievements of the civil rights era. They did this by striking down preclearance, a provision in the law that required certain states to get prior …
Congress Protects the Right to Vote: The Voting Rights Act …
http://blogs.archives.gov/education/
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was one of the most consequential pieces of civil rights legislation ever enacted by Congress. By the 1968 election, areas covered by the Voting Rights Act averaged a 25 percent increase in the …
Supreme Court guts Voting Rights Act of 1965 | BlueNC
http://bluenc.com/
Community organizing is even more critical after the United States Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a key provision from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 earlier today. Voting rights suffered an unnecessary setback with …
Voting Rights Act: The State of Section 5 – ProPublica
http://www.propublica.org/
A single provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been playing a key role on the election front this year. Section 5 has blocked photo voter-ID laws, prohibited reduced early-voting periods in parts of Florida and just …
Voting Rights in Texas – ACLU of Texas
http://www.aclutx.org/
In 2011, Texas tried to make it harder for you to vote: It passed a law that prohibited Texans without photo IDs from voting. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited Texas and a handful of other states from enacting onerous …
Supreme Court’s Gutting of Voting Rights Act Unleashes GOP
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum
When the Supreme Court recently gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, it did so under the theory that there was little evidence of continuing racial discrimination in the states that were required to get preclearance before …
Supreme Court Voting Rights Act Decision: Section 4 …
http://www.theroot.com/buzz/www.blogosearching.com/theroot247
Updated Tuesday, June 25, 12 p.m. EDT: Various civil rights groups and organizations vociferously condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to limit use of a key provision in the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.
List of jurisdictions subject to the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965The following jurisdictions in the United States are or have been subject to the special provisions oftheVotingRightsActof1965. Jurisdictions encompassed
Redistricting
Section 5 oftheVotingRightsActof1965 in certain states that have had a history of racial barriers to voting. Partisan domination of state legislatures
A Voting Law, Trashed
New York Times, on Thu, 20 Nov 2014 16:45:00 -0800
Our democracy, a beacon, sadly has a long history of voter suppression. Whether this suppression swings elections or not, it constitutes a national disgrace. In recent years, the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been trashed in a number of states …Supreme Court Considers Alabama Case on Voting Rights, Districts
Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper, on Sat, 15 Nov 2014 18:15:00 -0800
A decision is expected in 2015, which is also the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Megadistricts are created by gerrymandering boundaries to limit the power of the opposing party, which is legal. However, Alabama is accused of using …Watch: First Trailer For Civil Rights Drama ‘Selma’ With David Oyelowo, Tom …
Indie Wire (blog), on Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:48:34 -0800
“Selma” is the story of Dr. King’s historic struggle to secure voting rights for all people, which culminated with the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and led to President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The film’s …First ‘Selma’ Trailer Stars David Oyelowo As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
UrbanMecca, on Fri, 07 Nov 2014 12:42:28 -0800
George Wallace (Tom Roth) to ensure equal voting rights for all men and women. Selma takes place during three months in 1965 and ultimately led to President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The film features an ensemble cast …Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic Selma Trailer Hits The Web [VIDEO]
Hip-Hop Wired, on Fri, 07 Nov 2014 07:39:59 -0800
The historic events did not end peacefully, as the stirring images of “Bloody Sunday” in 1965 are still shocking. The nationwide anger at the time led then-President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign into law the Voting Rights Act Of 1965 in August of that year.
Race and Redistricting in the 1990s
Bernard Grofman, published 2003, 420 pages
Invisible Enemy: The African American Freedom Struggle after 1965
Greta de Jong, published 2010, 256 pages
Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama’s America
Desmond S. King, Rogers M. Smith, published 2011, 392 pages
Affirmative Action and Representation: Shaw V. Reno and the Future of Voting …
unknown, published 1997, 416 pages
Colorblind Injustice: Minority Voting Rights and the Undoing of the Second …
J. Morgan Kousser, published 1999, 590 pages
The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions
unknown, published 2009, 499 pages
The Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court
unknown, published 2005, 577 pages
The Supreme Court and Voting Rights: `Bizarre’ Districts or Bizarre …
http://beck.library.emory.edu/southernchanges/article.php%3Fid%3Dsc17-3-4_005
If they draw majority–black districts, they face lawsuits under the equal … Shaw v. Reno had identified special “representational harms” that might occur if … a majority–black constituency, but “traditional” and safe from attack if it is drawn to …. and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single–member district “; that …
North Carolina Redistricting Cases: the 1990s
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/departments/scr/redist/redsum/ncsum.htm
(North Carolina’s Black population amounts to 22 percent of the total population. … 461 (W.D. N.C. 1992), rev’d sub nom. Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993) … Reno, the legal theory on which the attack was based was endorsed by the …. large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single–memberdistrict.
The Impact of Shaw v. Reno on Section 2 Litigation by Benjamin E …
http://www.mslawyer.com/articles/section2.htm
Reno , the fate of many majority-minority districts created after the 1990 census … a geographically compact majority–black district, and if the proposed illustrative plan … to elect a representative of its own choice in some single–member district. …. in the judgment that the size of a governing body cannot be attacked under 2, …
Miller v. Johnson: The Supreme Court “Remaps” Shaw v. Reno
http://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D5643%26context%3Dlalrev
Oct 1, 1991 …Shaw v. Reno, 113 S. Ct. 2816,2824, 2832 (1993) (Shaw fl). On remand, the … three districts under attack were the product of unconstitutional gerrymanders as …. “A majority-minority district is a single–member election district … drawn to have a … The Eleventh District’s black population loss was then.
Redistricting Court Cases
https://malegislature.gov/district/courtcases
Black Political Task Force v. … The Supreme Court noted that, “The fact that district boundaries may have been drawn in a …. Shaw. V. Reno, – 509 U.S. 630 ( 1993). The Court opined that, “Racial …. compact group of minority voters could form a majority in a single–member district has the first Gingles requirement been met.”.
The Remedial Use of Race-Based Redistricting After Shaw v. Reno
http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1643%26context%3Dilj
Jan 1, 1994 … created one majority–black district centered in the northeast portion of the …. Assembly and the U.S. Attorney General in Shaw v. …… a single–member district remedy is feasible, (2) that the minority community …. a political document in which the Court gives credence to attacks by traditional foes of civil rights …
Shaw 0. Reno and the Future of voting Rights” – Social Sciences
http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~bgrofman/B68-Shaw-v-Reno.pdf
black members of Congress went from 4 to 1’7. … Lomsiana. 4th District. Eligibie voters. 414,000. Black. 62.6%. FIGURE 2. 3. U mm Q m“ t0 m … lature in 1991 contained one black majority seat. … muddled 1993 majority opinion in. Shaw v. Reno was written by J us- tice O’Connor ….. attacked on other grounds, such as.
supreme count continues to strike down majority minority …
http://www.civilrights.org/monitor/vol8_no5_6/art5.html
Reno (Shaw I)) when the shape of the district is “so extremely irregular on its face … the races without regard for tradit ional redistricting principles” or (as in Miller v. ) … by six Texas voters who resided, with one exception, in Districts 18, 29 or 30. …. themselves walking a tight-rope: if they draw majority black districts they face …
Resolving the Dilemma of Minority Representation – Berkeley Law …
http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1315%26context%3Dcalifornialawreview
Dec 2, 2004 … The Geographic Limits of Majority-Minority Districts . …. its face, because the newly created majority–black and majority-Hispanic …… Chilling Consequences: A Critique of Shaw v. Reno and Miller v. Johnson, 26 CUMB. L. REV. … district,76 it soon was used to attack other single–member districting plans.
Shaw v. Reno: A Mirage of Good Intentions with Devastating Racial …
http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D3098%26context%3Dflr
A Leon Higginbotham, Jr.; Gregory A. Clarick; and Marcella David, Shaw v. Reno: A Mirage of Good … The authors argue that minority-majority congressional districts— unlike apartheid and … B. “Little in Common with One Another But the Color of. Their Skin” . … STATES BY DISTRICT BLACK AND HISPANIC VOTING- AGE.
Black Votes Count: Political Empowerment in Mississippi After …
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Votes-Count-Empowerment-Mississippi/dp/0807842745
Black Votes Count: Political Empowerment in Mississippi After 1965 [Frank R. Parker] on Amazon.com. FREE shipping on qualifying offers. Most Americans see the …
History of Mississippi
Poverty & Culture, 1830-1998 (1998) online edition Parker, Frank R. BlackVotesCount: Political Empowerment in Mississippi After 1965 (1990) Peirce, Neal
Florida finally finishes vote count; Obama wins
USA TODAY, on Sat, 10 Nov 2012 05:25:58 -0800
Obama’s win came in part from heavy support from black, Hispanic and younger voters. Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press showed Obama was favored by more than 9 of 10 black voters and 3 of 5 Hispanic voters in Florida. The president also was …
1 million black votes didn’t count in the 2000 presidential election / It’s …
San Francisco Chronicle, on Sun, 20 Jun 2004 05:18:11 -0700
Florida’s Gadsden County has the highest percentage of black voters in the state — and the highest spoilage rate. One in 8 votes cast there in 2000 was never counted. Many voters wrote in “Al Gore.” Optical reading machines rejected these because “Al …Republican Found Guilty Of Suppressing Black Votes In Maryland
News One, on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:03:35 -0800
Paul Schurick was found guilty of all four counts he faced, including conspiracy to influence or attempt to influence a voter’s decision whether to go to the polls through the use of fraud and conspiracy to publish campaign material without an …States Work to Take Voting Rights Away, Proving Every Vote Counts
Atlanta Black Star, on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:40:40 -0700
But in the gamesmanship of politics, someone seems to have forgotten the constitutional right to vote and the hard-won efforts of black and poor people to be active participants in the governance of their lives on a local and state level, as well as in …Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement — Voting Rights History
http://www.crmvet.org/info/votehist.htm
In particular, the slave states insist that only white males be allowed to vote, yet they simultaneously demand that their Black slaves be counted when figuring up …
Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball » Multi-MemberDistricts …
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/multi-member-legislative-districts-just-a-thing-of-the-past/
… it seems anomalous that the two major parties boast all but two of the 535 membersof Congress, 49 of 50 state … at-large, single–member … African–American, …
AfricanAmericans in the United StatesCongress – Wikipedia …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_United_States_Congress
Revels was the first black member of the Congress overall. … no state has had a majority of African–American residents. … AfricanAmericanmembers;
Apportionment: African–American Representation
http://www.usca.edu/aasc/represnt.htm
Another ten years passed before an African–American won election to the state … African–Americanlegislators … African–Americans in the state into a single …
Black Legislative Politics in Mississippi – JSTOR
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2645924
tricts to single–memberdistricts, AfricanAmerican … Black StateLegislators in Mississippi … the state legislature, AfricanAmericanmembers have …
Redistricting, Race, and the Voting Rights Act
http://www.aei.org/publication/redistricting-race-and-the-voting-rights-act/
… that replaced single–memberdistricts with county … Because African–American … which had addressed the use of at-large voting to select members of …
AFRICANAMERICANS AND POLITICS – Texas State Historical …
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wmafr
AFRICANAMERICANS AND POLITICS. Racial conflict is a basic feature of Texas history. From 1865 onward its primary political manifestation has been the struggle of …
Southern Poverty Law Center – A GUIDE FOR PROTECTING VOTING RIGHTS DURING REDISTRICTING …
http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/pdf/static/drawing_the_line.pdf
drawn by statelegislators … and it can occur in both at-largeelection systems and single–memberdistrictelection … and to state and local electiondistrictsAfrican Americans and the Politics of Congressional Redistricting
Dewey M. Clayton, published 2004, 219 pages
African American Leadership
Ronald W. Walters, published 1999, 315 pages
The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change
David Lublin, published 2004, 245 pages
The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Historical Background and Current Issues
Garrine P. Laney, published 2003, 80 pages

Voting Rights Act of 1965
This is a public service announcement made that announces the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This was done as a final project for LAI 576 – Litera…

Our Documents – Voting Rights Act (1965)
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php%3Fdoc%3D100
This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. In those years, African …
Voting Rights Act
http://www.civilrights.org/voting-rights/vra/
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) bans racial discrimination in voting practices by the federal government as well as by state and local governments. Passed in 1965 …